Today, it is no longer costumed, and is displayed to show more of the inner workings of the Automaton.
Penniman believes the Automaton was bareheaded, with perhaps a wig, in 1826. Penniman designed a proper boy's suit, a hat, carved feet, and shoes for him, since his legs were no longer hidden under a skirt. Then a lithograph from 1826 came to light, as well as written references, showing the Automaton as a boy. Since the boy's legs were either missing or irreparable, the simplest solution seems to have been to dress him as an 18th-century woman in a long dress, although there is a picture of "her" as a Red Cross nurse at one point. It was displayed off and on in The Franklin Institute for the rest of the century.Īs recollected by an Institute employee who assisted getting the machine off the truck in 1928, the "boy" was in a tattered uniform that looked to him to be that of a French soldier. An Institute machinist began tinkering with the Automaton and eventually had it functioning. The Brock family's understanding was that the machine was made by a French inventor named Maelzel, and that it had been acquired in France. When they donated the Automaton to The Franklin Institute, the descendants of John Penn Brock knew it had been ruined in a fire and hadn't run for years. This Automaton, known as the "Draughtsman-Writer," is one such machine.
The first complex machines produced by man were called "automata." The greatest and most fascinating mechanisms were those that could do things in imitation of living creatures. During the 18th century, people were in a state of wonder over mechanism.
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